Issue 638 – April 21, 2020

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Hi Andy,

I’m sure this has been asked before, but I just can’t find the answer… We’ve been told that a Scout can’t ask for a board of review until after he or she has been active in current rank for six months. So, if that six months starts on, let’s say April 20, is the six months completed at Midnight on October 19, or 12:00:01 a.m. on October 20? I’m asking because our son’s troop committee is telling us—per these hypothetical dates—that a Scout can’t even request a board of review until 12:00:01 a.m. on October 21st!

We really need some help with this! Thank you. (Confused Scout Parents)

You might start by asking your son’s Scoutmaster, committee chair, and advancement coordinator, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” Seriously, this is so nit-picking as to be categorized as absurd.

In the first place, the BSA’s GUIDE TO ADVANCEMENT tells us (Section 8, Topic 8.0.0.2) that no Scout should ever be required to ask for a board of review: “Scoutmasters…do not have the authority to expect a Scout to request (a board of review)…” This process is to begin with the Scoutmaster informing the appropriate troop committee member that a board of review is to be scheduled for the Scout.

As for the “length of a six-month period” question, the answer isn’t in any BSA writing that I’ve found. So I went online to DATE CALENDAR (https://www.datecalculator.org/months-from-today-calculator), which calculates the exact date after a specified numbers of months. I entered “April 20” for the start date and “6” for the number of elapsed months. The answer to the question of what date six months from April 20 will be is: OCTOBER 20.

This, by the way, isn’t “math”… It’s basic arithmetic. So, if anyone’s still questioning it, even after having read the GUIDE TO ADVANCEMENT-Topic 8.0.0.8 and gone to the DATE CALENDAR website, they can email me at ASKANDYBSA@YAHOO.COM
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Hi Andy,

I just found a pretty good resource for Scouts interested in merit badges during this “stay home” period. It’s by the Central Florida Council and it’s open to all and can accommodate almost 1000 Scouts! (https://scoutingevent.com/083-OnlineMB?fbclid=IwAR0Untsa7KVtfpMAGHV4TssXs4Fwnz58QKcyGjnc9Rh9SXNxGbgu2-2glAQ)

(Joe Sefcik)

Thanks! Good stuff, especially in this new environment!
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Hi Andy,

Just wanted to let you know that our troop just had a “campout”! Each of our Scouts either pitched a tent or slept under the stars in their own back yards, and then we all “met” on Zoom! We did a “roses-and-thorns” on what was easier and harder about this sort of “distancing” troop activity. The Scouts also shared their menus with each other, and several with back yard fire pits had put them to good use. The Scouts really enjoyed this and have already said they want to do it again next month! (Nancy P, SM, Scouts BSA Troop 309 for Girls, Flint River Council, GA)

That’s a really cool idea! Great creativity! Thanks for sharing your story!
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Hi Andy,

Always enjoy reading your articles and advice. A few weeks back, there was a question about Merit Badge Counselors and the Scuba merit badge, and I’d like to add to your commentary on qualifications…

Yes, the adult teaching “Scuba BSA” must hold an instructor rating from an approved agency, but that’s not true for Scuba merit badge. For this merit badge, while the person providing the certification for req. 4 must hold at least a basic instructor rating, the Merit Badge Counselor doesn’t need to have this qualification. Of course, he or she must meet the usual BSA requirements for all Merit Badge Counselors, including being “proficient in the merit badge subject by vocation or avocation.” So, taking this further, ask a local dive shop instructor to become a counselor is a great idea! (Cory Buckalew, Michigan Crossroads Council)

Thanks! This is important stuff and I’m really glad you’ve added your “two cents” to our knowledge!
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Hello Andy,

You’ve stated that a Scout really doesn’t ever “fail” a board of review, but I have a question that’s sort of related to that…

If a Scoutmaster has signed off on everything for a Scout’s next rank, can the committee chair refuse that Scout, stating that the Scout needs to “attend more troop outings” first?

I’m asking because the troop my son (I’ll call him John) is in defines “active” as participating in a committee-designated specific outing each month, without regard for troop meetings or Patrol Leaders Council meetings, individual patrol meetings, or working on merit badges, or leading or helping out at troop or Eagle service projects (all of which John has been doing for two solid years). That’s right, John has been working toward Life rank for two years, and his Scoutmaster signed him off on completing all requirements for this rank over two months ago! (Pretty frustrated Scout Dad, with a pretty depressed son)

Darn it! Not again! Why does this nonsense keep coming up! Don’t these people know that NOBODY CAN ADD TO REQUIREMENTS FOR ANYTHING!

Okay… I’m a bit settled down, so let’s tackle the two most important points here. The first is about adding requirements and the second is about withholding boards of review.

1: The BSA states all over the place that “No council, committee, district, unit, or individual has the authority to add to, or subtract from, advancement requirements.”

2: The BSA also and unequivocally states that a Scout cannot be refused a board of review for any reason, ever. The troop’s committee is responsible for providing a board of review for any Scout who has completed all requirements for his or her next rank, and it’s the Scoutmaster’s job to see that this happens. Further, no Scout is required to ask for a board of review; this is the job of the Scoutmaster and the review is to be made available to the Scout as soon as possible after all rank requirements are completed. No board of review may ever be unreasonably withheld from a Scout. (To be clear: None of this is my “opinion”—these are BSA policies.)

So, the committee chair you mention is wrong twice: That chair [1] cannot refuse a Scout a board of review and [2] cannot add to requirements (i.e., the “additional outings”).

Now more than ever, it’s up to the Scoutmaster to lead the way on John’s behalf by (a) informing the committee chair that the actions taken are wrong and will not be permitted to stand and (b) assisting, as needed, the other members of the troop committee as they make every effort to schedule a board of review for this Scout as quickly as possible.

If I sound like my hair’s caught fire, it’s because this mistreatment of your son (and who knows how many others!) is one of the most noxious and intolerable actions any Scouting volunteer can take toward a Scout. This is anathema to the reason Scouting has adult volunteers in the first place. In point of cold fact, if this committee chair is in any way reluctant to correct his or her actions, immediate removal by the troop’s chartered organization is the correct course of action.

Thanks, Andy. I needed to be sure I was on the right track before taking action on John’s behalf. But I can tell you that he’s sitting right on the edge of just walking away from Scouting entirely.

I should probably mention that John did have an earlier rank advancement delay because he “didn’t smile enough,” according to his Scoutmaster. Yes, John doesn’t smile much—this is a personal issue that John isn’t comfortable sharing—but what this has to do with “requirements” completely escapes me. Besides, he’s been in Scouting for ten years and enjoyed it (up to now), and it seems to me that sticking with it trumps “smiling.”

At any rate, he’s striving for Eagle and even though he’s just 16 years old, he’s indeed under time pressure. That’s because he’ll be graduating from high school in just a few months and he has a four-year academic scholarship at his first-choice college. So this two-month delay in his review for Life definitely messes up any chance he might have had to complete his Eagle requirements before moving on to college in this coming mid-August.

If his Scoutmaster doesn’t step up on John’s behalf right away, do I go to our sponsoring church or to the council? (PFSD w/a PDS)

Of course we both know that John’s Scoutmaster was full o’ beans on that “smile more” nonsense, if it delayed advancement when all requirements had been completed! But if it was a suggestion to John because he held a leadership position that needed buy-in from other Scouts, then smiling more can definitely make a difference, especially when you think about “leadership” as explained to me by an Eagle Scout… “It’s the ability to convince others that they want to do what they wouldn’t do without your leading them!”

Only you can decide which side of that equation this Scoutmaster sits on, but I’d start with him anyway, if just to know that you started in the right place.

Your next conversation—with or without the Scoutmaster at your side—will be with the committee chair. If you can turn this apparent stone wall into a green light, that’s for the best!

If a review for John isn’t forthcoming, the ladder to go up is with your sponsor; not the council, and that’s because the sponsor/chartered organization quite literally owns the troop, so that’s where the buck stops. But you can definitely get help from council-level volunteers.

Before you contact the pastor of your sponsoring church, reach out and get the name and contact information for the commissioner responsible for John’s troop. Get in touch and have a chat by phone or Zoom, Facetime, or other utility that you both have in common (in other words, not email!). Describe the situation as you’ve done with me, including the time factor, and ask if that commissioner can help you when you speak with the pastor, or maybe he or she would be willing to have a strongly-worded conversation with the troop’s chair and Scoutmaster.

If you need more, let’s hear from you. Meanwhile, here’s a message for your son…

John, throughout life you’re going to run into jerks who just don’t get what’s right. You’ll find them in academics, in sports, in the workplace, and even in churches, sometimes. You’ll find them in Scouting too, as you already know. But you need to know that Scouting doesn’t have any “exclusive” here.

Somebody much wiser than I am once said, “It’s not what happens to you that matters; it’s how you *respond* to what happens to you that really matters.”

So make your decisions in life based on what’s best for you and not what’s best for the jerks you’ll meet from time to time. And be thankful every day that good people outnumber jerks a hundred-to-one!

Till next week, please stay safe, stay healthy, and stay positive!
Happy Scouting!
Andy

Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Write to askandybsa@yahoo.com. Please include your name and council. (If you’d prefer to be anonymous, if published, let me know and that’s what we’ll do.)

Although these columns are copyrighted, any reader has my permission to quote or reproduce any columns or column parts so long as you attribute authorship: “Ask Andy” by Andy McCommish.

[No. 638 – 4/21/2020 – Copyright © Andy McCommish 2020]